For the vast majority of leagues, we are on to the playoffs. Those no longer with us will not see this as they are understandably moving onto football season. But not us. If you are reading this right now, you made it! Playoff bound, and by this time of the week you are getting a good idea of how things are shaping up. Or you’re getting a really BAD idea of how things are shaping up. (Looking at you, my team down 9-1-1 in my main league.) This is where H2H sucks, as all your success all season comes down to showing up this one week. Cheers to you if you’re comfortably up and not sweating this matchup. But for those of you suckers down in a hole like me, its time to scrape and fight for our lives. I’m trying to pick up an ground on any category any way I can. One area I found I may be able to gain an advantage at is with saves. In other words, I’m out here trying to save the season!
Owned in just 18.2% of ESPN leagues and 31% of Yahoo leagues, Robert Gsellman is a guy I’ve been scooping up trying to add saves. He has been 3-for-3 in save opportunities over the past two weeks and appears to have earned a safe spot as the closer for the Mets. In his last 10 innings of work, he has allowed 8 hits, one walk, and 3 runs, while striking out 6 and recording 4 saves. On the year, batters are hitting just .228 against him and walking at a 8.5% rate. Through 72.2 innings, he has a 20.9% K rate, backed by an impressive 9.6% swinging strike rate. He has been a solid reliever all season, and he has recently gained a considerable amount of fantasy value due to his new role.
The part that I LOVE about Gsellman is his position eligibility. ESPN and Yahoo have him listed as both RP and SP, which holds a value standalone. In the majority of my leagues, pitchers are broken down into “SP” and “RP” slots. So teams typically have 2 closers as RP, as they want to maximize save opportunities. Well, here comes Gsellman. A newly appointed closer who happens to have SP eligibility as well. This allows you to have two closers as your “RP”, and also gaining a third closer by having Gsellman in a SP spot. You can leave him in that slot the entire week, unless you miraculously had a full slate of SP that day. But you get the idea. You could have 3 active closers, while your opponent likely just has 2.
I know this is not ground breaking, but it is a strategy I have been using that has helped me pick up some extra saves and help win some matchups. I have done it with Jordan Hicks who also holds SP and RP eligibility and had some save opportunities. If your league settings are like mine, this is a viable strategy that can help you win saves by gaining an additional closer. And if your settings aren’t like mine, pay that part no mind. Gsellman can be a valuable source of saves regardless of your settings. He has been a solid reliever all year, who has recently been thrusted into the closer role and been making the most of it. He may be on the Mets, but he will still see a fair share of save opportunities to close out the year.
